As I normally request when publishing an exciting article by Sinem Tezyapar, if all you have to contribute is that she shouldn’t be trusted for whatever reason—kindly keep that to yourself. I encourage our educated readers to argue with and even shoot down anything Sinem offers, but, please, respect my personal guarantee, based on a fairly long relationship with her and her movement, that she absolutely means what she says.

Yori Yanover, Editor

Over the last few years, I have been often asked: is Turkey leaving the West? Is Turkey’s axis shifting? Is Turkey turning its back on the West?

The simple answer is no. Turkey is a democratic, free and secular country with a majority Muslim population, a friend of the West, and this will stay as it is. However, Turkey has realized her responsibilities as the natural leader in the Turkic Islamic world. Turkey as a “soft power,” like an elder brother, can and will be a unifying entity, a model to the Islamic countries to inspire a new vision where people can see that Islam does not conflict with democracy, fundamental freedoms and human rights. What’s more, it can initiate key solutions to end conflicts in the region by bringing these countries under the same umbrella with a new spirit of brotherhood.

Let me tell you how.

Imagine a union among the countries of the Middle East, the Caucasus and North Africa; not a materialistic or economic union like the European Union, not the kind of unity where they want to get rid of you when you are in trouble or weak, but a spiritual union, ready to serve, to help, with a consciousness of self-sacrifice in which one nation will not sleep in comfort when her neighbor has a problem. Imagine living with open borders, traveling between countries as you travel among cities. No visa procedures, no passports.

In fact, it is quite natural to expect a union between the Turkic countries and the Islamic countries, because they share so much in common. Indeed, the division among them is unnatural. But what is more important and unique about this unity is that it will include Israel and Armenia, and even Russia in the later stages. In the same way that a family is made strong and healthy by its members helping one another, this unity will constitute a family.

The immediate establishment of this Union is essential for the entire region. This Union does not imply any racial superiority, nor will it impose any religion. It will rather be one that treats Muslims, Christians, Jews and all others with great affection, and recognizes their right to exist as first class citizens.

The ones who would benefit most from this would be non-Muslims: Armenians, Greeks, Jews. It will constitute a social role model with a democratic and secular structure that attaches the proper value to human rights and fundamental liberties. Not only monotheistic believers, but also Buddhists, Zoroastrians, atheists—in short everyone— will be free to express their opinions and live as they choose in a new climate of freedom.

One important characteristic of this Union is that member states preserve their national identities as sovereign nation states. No one will interfere in anyone’s foreign or domestic affairs. So we are not talking about a repressive or despotic regime. There will be nothing about it that damages or interferes in the internal affairs of the states. Member states will preserve their own governments and will be guaranteed their sovereign status.

This model may cause one to immediately think of the Ottoman Empire, but it is not an attempt to resurrect that concept. What I am talking about is something else. We do not regard the Ottoman era as perfect; we know they had defects and made mistakes. Since this will be a union of brotherhood, a union of love, not a concept of racial superiority or the classic model of an empire built on military conquest, the radical voices will have to behave themselves.

This great unity will also be a deterrent force and the radical elements will be deterred from pursuing their extravagant and nefarious goals. There will therefore be no terror and anarchy in the region. All the money currently spent for the military will instead be directed to people’s comfort, and will be spent on ensuring a high quality of life for all. It will help the region to get rid of the scourges of terror, economic troubles or of the torment of confinement, and it will provide economic support, by enriching them through the sharing of natural resources.

About the Author:Sinem Tezyapar is an executive producer on Turkish Television. She is a political and religious commentator and a peace activist. She can be reached on Facebook, and Twitter.

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40 Responses to “A New Pan-Turkish Union with Israel and the Arabs as Equals”

Please put aside every negative thing we hear/read and just imagine and believe. And please read till the end. Finally I would like to remind to my Israeli friends: "If you will it, it is no dream." – Theodor Herzl.

Very interesting Sinem. What will this pan-national body be called? And how will the issue of apartheid on the Temple Mount, where Jews cannot pray in the capital of their God-given land, be handled? And who will sit at the helm of this new entity?

Sinem…why a Pan TURKISH Union..
Dream on the Arab world is too racist towards Turks. Stop dreaming and start asking your leaders why they are so Anti-Zionist. Your articles should be in the Turkish press asking your leaders for how they behave!

Never trust a Turk who talks about the word Pan….
The first obligation of Turkey is to recognize the Armenian Genocide, apologize and compensate for the territorial and human losses.
Erdogan should visit the Armenian Genocide memorial in Yerevan, visit the Genocide Museum and write in the visitor's book " The Turkish nation recognizes the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by my ancestors and I apologize on behalf of my people. I bow my head to the memory of the 1.5 million Armenians killed and to their heirs".
Now that will be a good start Sinem.

Never trust a Turk who talks about the word Pan….
The first obligation of Turkey is to recognize the Armenian Genocide, apologize and compensate for the territorial and human losses.
Erdogan should visit the Armenian Genocide memorial in Yerevan, visit the Genocide Museum and write in the visitor's book " The Turkish nation recognizes the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by my ancestors and I apologize on behalf of my people. I bow my head to the memory of the 1.5 million Armenians killed and to their heirs".
Now that will be a good start Sinem.

You will never find a more sincere peace activist than my esteemed friend Sinem Tezyapar as well as her associates. They and their entire movement are devoted to unity, peace, brotherhood and mending fences. Do not doubt their sincerity. Sure, we could always find negatives to complain about…. on all sides. But here is an educated, honest, and devoted human being, supporting and promoting peace and cooperation in an unheard of level for these days.
She and her associates deserve honor and applause from us all….. certainly not for us to find faults with her efforts.
Some of these posts make me think of a poor person being given a new Rolls Royce as a gift, only to complain that the tires are dirty.
Let's be thankful to HaShem that this wonderful lady and her friends want peace for all of us…… She and her mentor Adnan Oktar should be invited and honored by every organization there is. There is nobody doing more for peace today.
Thank you, Sinem….. I appreciate you. May HaShem bless you and protect you.

This idea of a Pan-Turkish Union is not particularly recent. I first became aware of this about 5 years ago when doing some personal research into the neo-Ottman movement in Turkey. This is the brainchild of Turkish cult leader Adnan Oktar, who goes by a number of aliases including his main pseudonym Harun Yahya.

Under the name of Yahya, Mr Oktar has penned several anti-Semetic books, such as Judaism and Fremasons”, described in the New Humanist Magazine online as "a derivative retread of anti-Semitic clichés in the manner of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which identified Jews and the masons as the devious obstacles to the emergence of a new, powerful Turkish-Muslim nation. “The principal mission of Jews and Freemasons in Turkey,” Oktar wrote, “was to erode the spiritual, religious, and moral values of the Turkish people and make them like animals.”.

Oktar also wrote the book "Holocaust Violence", which is currently available on Amazon.com in the USA. Here is part of a description from the Amazon web site…

"Beginning in the 1930s, the Third Reich which spilt so much blood in the name of German racism, and radical Zionism which did the same in the Middle East in the name of Jewish racism forged a secret alliance. At first sight, this may seem surprising, yet these two ideologies, both believing that different races and beliefs could not co-exist and that there needed to be a constant state of conflict between races and nations, embarked on a very real collaboration. Examinations of this subject are typically accused of being anti-Semitic."

Oktar has dozens of websites. Some of which express a hatred of Kurds. He avoids any reference of the Turkish genocide against Armenians and Greeks. He has spent time in prison for drugs, and time in a mental institution. He is adamantly against the theory of Evolution, which he rails against on broadcasts, web sites and volumes of publications.

His vision of a Pan-Turkish Union would erase any Jewish sovereignty over Israel, and re-institute Jews, and other non-Muslims living in the union to the status of dhimmi.

Ms Tezyapar has published pro-Oktar propaganda in the Jewish Press previously, on 1/24/2013, with her article Turkish, Israeli Pols Meet to Solve Disagreements 'with Love'. It all sounds so wonderful. We as Jews feel almost an instinct to respond favorably to people who reach out to us in such a benevolent manner, but I fear in this case, we are being used to further the career of a Turkish cult leader, and against Israel's national interests.

Mohammed said that a divorce can be made before a child menstruated which also says that marriages were allowed before a child menstruated. Quran 65:4, Dawood.
I ask you all, is this what you want for your children?

Well, if it's a dream, it's the same dream I've had for decades–a united union of Levantine states who have trade and spiritual and neighborly ties—and high speed trains so Israelis can visit Baghdad and Armenians visit Jerusalem and everyone can visit Istanbul….as for the negative comments about discrimination, recall that discrimination can end with education and shared goals and good will. Negative commenters have an ax to grind and would rather nit-pick their current agenda than consider a hopeful future of cooperation and mutual support.

Well, if it's a dream, it's the same dream I've had for decades–a united union of Levantine states who have trade and spiritual and neighborly ties—and high speed trains so Israelis can visit Baghdad and Armenians visit Jerusalem and everyone can visit Istanbul….as for the negative comments about discrimination, recall that discrimination can end with education and shared goals and good will. Negative commenters have an ax to grind and would rather nit-pick their current agenda than consider a hopeful future of cooperation and mutual support.

In the past I was against Pan-Turkism, because it was what the Young Turks used as their excuse for annihilating the Armenians. To drive them out, so the Turks could link up with the Turkic peoples of Central Asia. But if the Turks now are aspiring unity with themselves, Israel, and the Arabs, I would support such a move. The Turkish Government is now peace negotiations with Kurdistan Workers' Party, and hopefully that will lead to legalization of using the Kurdish language in media and education, the legalization of outlawed Kurdish political parties, and allowing Kurdish lawmakers banned from politics, to be able to participate again. If Turkey can succeed with the Kurds, then Israel can succeed with the Palestinians.

Armenians celebrated the arrival of the Young Turks in 1908 with their fellow Turks because of the promises of brotherhood and equality of the minorities with the Turks. Te Young Turks started the planning of the Armenian Genocide in 1910 to rid Turkey of its native Christian population of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks. The Genocide was executed with utmost perfection so much so that Hitler in 1928 declared " who remembers the Armenians…"
Turkey will never join the rank of the civilized countries until it recognizes the genocide of the Armenians, the Assyrians and the Pontic Greeks, until it returns the Armenian territories of Western Armenia to their rightful owners, until they return Haghia Sophia to the Greeks Orthodox church, until they respect the human rights of its Kurdish population, until they stop killing of Armenians in the streets of Instambul(Constantiople), until they stop glorifying their past leaders like Talaat, Enver and Jemal( the Genocide masterminds), until they erect a Genocide Memorial in Ankara.
Only then I will truly believe Turkey has changed until then Armenians will continue their struggle for JUSTICE.

I suggest you stop spreading inaccurate Turkish propaganda.
It was your Mongol, Seljouk an Tatar ancestors who butchered their way to Asia Minor from Central Asia, killing, burning and destroying everything on their way.
Victor Hugo aptly said " the Turks have passed through here" whenever he saw destruction.

Germany was strong enough to recognize the Holocaust, and just recently recognize the Parajmos against the Roma people. If Germany has the strength to do this for a literate people, such as the Jews, and an illiterate people such as the Roma, then Turkey can do so for the both Armenians and the Kurds.

Turks are no Germans. Turks still have the mentality of their violent and uncivilized ancestors. They think they can bully the Armenians, the Kurds, the Jews and the Western civilized world. Unfortunately neither the United States, nor Great Britain and norIsrael have recognized the Armenian Genocide which is an indirect endorsement of Turkey's denial.

Israel has recognized it, also there is a museum in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. I have visited it, just like I have visited Yad Vashem. Arnold Toynbee with Great Britain's White Hall — Foreign Ministry — wrote extensively about it. He also wrote extensively about the massacres from 1894 to 1896.

Israel has recognized it, also there is a museum in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. I have visited it, just like I have visited Yad Vashem. Arnold Toynbee with Great Britain's White Hall — Foreign Ministry — wrote extensively about it. He also wrote extensively about the massacres from 1894 to 1896.

Israel has recognized it, also there is a museum in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. I have visited it, just like I have visited Yad Vashem. Arnold Toynbee with Great Britain's White Hall — Foreign Ministry — wrote extensively about it. He also wrote extensively about the massacres from 1894 to 1896.

Hi Sinem… I agree a union would be awesome! But, unfortunately, our populace is made up of a large percentage of uneducated people. These majority will follow the will of their war-loving leaders, who will block such a union. Killing their leaders will only cause another more to rise to the surface. In order to form a union, we’d have to kill our Nationalist Beliefs. Why, because it is these beliefs that foment war, hatred and aggression against those who do not hold the same beliefs.
Have you ever been to Gaza? Probably not. One million plus people forced into a nationalist belief system, and any thoughts against the nationalism are crushed… like the roundup of Fatah currently being undertaken.
Most educated people would enjoy and welcome such a utopian society where the technology driven excellence, and manufacturing prowess of some of the member states could be shared with all. Where a reliance on oil could be shed… saying that… what would the House of Saud do?
I suggest you read “War is a Force that Gives us Meaning” and then rethink your societal dream. Why? Because in order to form the Union, there would be a necessary slaying of a certain “non-cooperating” demographic in order for it to come into fruition. To do that would go against everything the new Union stands for… the world won’t get away with what the United States did to the Native Americans in order to form the United States. Conversely, to not wipe out a certain percentage would be kill the idea before it even got started.
What the middle-east needs is education, lots and lots of it. The onus for such a union always falls on the majority to lead the way. That means that the Muslim majority would first… before the Union is formed… recognize Israel as a state with Jerusalem as its capital…. Give the Kurds their own nation in Northern Iraq, and give Lebanon back to the Christians… and perform free trade with all. Achieve that, and credibility for a Union will soon follow.
Without education there will be no support from the masses… they will be left to their easily swayed primitive decision making processes.